UConn Rallies To Beat Florida, 63-59

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Ryan Boatright couldn't jump, couldn't take his quick first step. But these were no ordinary times for the Huskies, and no time to sit out.

"I knew this game could save our season," Boatright said after scoring 14 points and making the critical free throws in the final seconds Saturday to seal UConn's 63-59 victory against Florida. "There was no way I was going to sit out and let that slip by."

Boatright, the lone senior, got himself on the court despite a deep left thigh contusion that, he says, "has turned my leg 45 different colors," and played 39 minutes. The sense of desperate urgency gripped all of the Huskies. Trailing by 13 points early in the second half, they surged back to take the lead with stifling defense — "some of the best defense I've seen at UConn," coach Kevin Ollie said — and game-changing three-point shots from Omar Calhoun and Rodney Purvis.

And they rediscovered the art of winning, clinging to their hard-earned lead and clinching it at the free throw line, where Florida failed.

"We made execution plays down the stretch," Ollie said. "We made free throws. All the things we haven't been doing, we did today. … I thought this would be a 'heart' game, and we played with a lot of passion. We gutted this one out for UConn nation."

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — When a UConn player is hurt, James Doran's life is on hold. That included New Year's Eve, when UConn's game against Temple was early enough for some revelry.

Doran, the team's longtime athletic trainer, was with Ryan Boatright, applying ice and treatment to the left thigh contusion...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — When a UConn player is hurt, James Doran's life is on hold. That included New Year's Eve, when UConn's game against Temple was early enough for some revelry.

Doran, the team's longtime athletic trainer, was with Ryan Boatright, applying ice and treatment to the left thigh contusion...

(DOM AMORE)

To be sure, this is not a vintage Florida team, not like the one that UConn beat twice along the road to the national championship. The Gators (7-6) not only blew a 13-point lead, but went 8-for-20 at the free throw line.

"When you look at the stat sheet and you see 8-for-20 from the free throw line, it looks like that cost us the game," Florida coach Billy Donovan said, "but it's a disposition you need. … There is a competitive disposition that we do not have, and we have to make a commitment to it."

Calhoun scored 12 points, Purvis 11 and Terrence Samuel 10 for the Huskies, who hit 8 of 17 three-point attempts and 17 of 20 from the line, reversing the numbers — 1 of 9 and 8 of 19 — they had against Temple.

"Coach had us shoot a lot of free throws the day after that game," Samuel said. "That's all I'll say."

The Huskies (7-5) have suffered their share of last-second losses, the latest on New Year's Eve, in overtime to Temple, the game in which Boatright was injured and missed the second half. Losses to Texas, Yale and Temple could have been avoided with timely free throws; Boatright had key misses against Yale and Texas.

"And I told myself," he said, "'If I get back in that situation, I'm not going to miss those free throws.'"

Although he went 2-for-11 from the field, Boatright was 8-for-9 from the line. Once UConn took the lead, 57-54, on Rodney Purvis' three-pointer with 3:25 left, they shut Florida down almost completely. When the game came down to fouling, Boatright made two free throws with 31 seconds left, Terrence Samuel made two with 12.4 seconds left and Boatright sealed it with two more with 3.2 seconds left.

But UConn's will to win this game manifested itself much earlier. The Gators led by six at halftime and, causing a cluster of turnovers with their press, opened it to 44-31 with 17:24 to go. The Huskies stepped it up on defense, with Amida Brimah, not in foul trouble this time, turning monster in the paint.

Brimah completed a three-point play, his only points, to bring the Huskies back within eight with 11:37 to go. Purvis' three-pointer made it a four-point game with 7:39 to go; the Huskies got it back and Daniel Hamilton hit a jumper to make it 53-51 with 6:54 left. After Brimah blocked a shot, Purvis hit for three at the other end to give the Huskies their first lead of the game, 54-53, with 5:31 left, capping a 23-9 spurt.

"The big fella was just playing remarkable," Ollie said. "He was coming off his man and disrupting shots, and then our guards locked down and were rebounding. Just reaching down with your gut — you've got to get stops with your heart and your gut, it's nothing I can draw up."

Calhoun scored eight of his points during that run, hitting two threes.

"Omar was huge for us," Boatright said. "I don't know where we'd be without him."

Brimah had 10 rebounds as UConn outrebounded the Gators, 34-29. The Huskies had 14 turnovers, but only one in the last 12 minutes. "We needed a little bit of paint protection," said Brimah, who was credited with two blocks but appeared to have several more, "and after those blocks, they stopped coming in the paint."

For the third time in three victories against Florida in the past 13 months, UConn did the job defensively on Michael Frazier II, who was 3-for-10, with eight points. Dorian Finney-Smith led Florida with 19 points.

"We didn't want both of them to go off," Ollie said.

After losses to West Virginia, Texas and Duke, the Huskies were badly in need, and running out of chances for a "signature" nonconference win. This one on the road, despite Florida's shortcomings, will do for now, as the Huskies happily filed onto the bus to Tampa, where they will play South Florida on Tuesday night.

"We've been up and down," Purvis said, "but this is a great road win and, hopefully, we'll be able to build on this. It's a great stepping stone."